diff --git a/mercurial/manifest.py b/mercurial/manifest.py
--- a/mercurial/manifest.py
+++ b/mercurial/manifest.py
@@ -1261,8 +1261,6 @@ class manifestlog(object):
     class do not care about the implementation details of the actual manifests
     they receive (i.e. tree or flat or lazily loaded, etc)."""
     def __init__(self, opener, repo):
-        self._repo = repo
-
         usetreemanifest = False
         cachesize = 4
 
@@ -1309,7 +1307,7 @@ class manifestlog(object):
                     if node not in dirlog.nodemap:
                         raise LookupError(node, dirlog.indexfile,
                                           _('no node'))
-                m = treemanifestctx(self._repo, dir, node)
+                m = treemanifestctx(self, dir, node)
             else:
                 raise error.Abort(
                         _("cannot ask for manifest directory '%s' in a flat "
@@ -1320,9 +1318,9 @@ class manifestlog(object):
                     raise LookupError(node, self._revlog.indexfile,
                                       _('no node'))
             if self._treeinmem:
-                m = treemanifestctx(self._repo, '', node)
+                m = treemanifestctx(self, '', node)
             else:
-                m = manifestctx(self._repo, node)
+                m = manifestctx(self, node)
 
         if node != revlog.nullid:
             mancache = self._dirmancache.get(dir)
@@ -1337,18 +1335,18 @@ class manifestlog(object):
         self._revlog.clearcaches()
 
 class memmanifestctx(object):
-    def __init__(self, repo):
-        self._repo = repo
+    def __init__(self, manifestlog):
+        self._manifestlog = manifestlog
         self._manifestdict = manifestdict()
 
     def _revlog(self):
-        return self._repo.manifestlog._revlog
+        return self._manifestlog._revlog
 
     def new(self):
-        return memmanifestctx(self._repo)
+        return memmanifestctx(self._manifestlog)
 
     def copy(self):
-        memmf = memmanifestctx(self._repo)
+        memmf = memmanifestctx(self._manifestlog)
         memmf._manifestdict = self.read().copy()
         return memmf
 
@@ -1363,8 +1361,8 @@ class manifestctx(object):
     """A class representing a single revision of a manifest, including its
     contents, its parent revs, and its linkrev.
     """
-    def __init__(self, repo, node):
-        self._repo = repo
+    def __init__(self, manifestlog, node):
+        self._manifestlog = manifestlog
         self._data = None
 
         self._node = node
@@ -1377,16 +1375,16 @@ class manifestctx(object):
         #self.linkrev = revlog.linkrev(rev)
 
     def _revlog(self):
-        return self._repo.manifestlog._revlog
+        return self._manifestlog._revlog
 
     def node(self):
         return self._node
 
     def new(self):
-        return memmanifestctx(self._repo)
+        return memmanifestctx(self._manifestlog)
 
     def copy(self):
-        memmf = memmanifestctx(self._repo)
+        memmf = memmanifestctx(self._manifestlog)
         memmf._manifestdict = self.read().copy()
         return memmf
 
@@ -1431,7 +1429,7 @@ class manifestctx(object):
         if revlog._usemanifestv2:
             # Need to perform a slow delta
             r0 = revlog.deltaparent(revlog.rev(self._node))
-            m0 = self._repo.manifestlog[revlog.node(r0)].read()
+            m0 = self._manifestlog[revlog.node(r0)].read()
             m1 = self.read()
             md = manifestdict()
             for f, ((n0, fl0), (n1, fl1)) in m0.diff(m1).iteritems():
@@ -1449,19 +1447,19 @@ class manifestctx(object):
         return self.read().find(key)
 
 class memtreemanifestctx(object):
-    def __init__(self, repo, dir=''):
-        self._repo = repo
+    def __init__(self, manifestlog, dir=''):
+        self._manifestlog = manifestlog
         self._dir = dir
         self._treemanifest = treemanifest()
 
     def _revlog(self):
-        return self._repo.manifestlog._revlog
+        return self._manifestlog._revlog
 
     def new(self, dir=''):
-        return memtreemanifestctx(self._repo, dir=dir)
+        return memtreemanifestctx(self._manifestlog, dir=dir)
 
     def copy(self):
-        memmf = memtreemanifestctx(self._repo, dir=self._dir)
+        memmf = memtreemanifestctx(self._manifestlog, dir=self._dir)
         memmf._treemanifest = self._treemanifest.copy()
         return memmf
 
@@ -1470,13 +1468,13 @@ class memtreemanifestctx(object):
 
     def write(self, transaction, link, p1, p2, added, removed):
         def readtree(dir, node):
-            return self._repo.manifestlog.get(dir, node).read()
+            return self._manifestlog.get(dir, node).read()
         return self._revlog().add(self._treemanifest, transaction, link, p1, p2,
                                   added, removed, readtree=readtree)
 
 class treemanifestctx(object):
-    def __init__(self, repo, dir, node):
-        self._repo = repo
+    def __init__(self, manifestlog, dir, node):
+        self._manifestlog = manifestlog
         self._dir = dir
         self._data = None
 
@@ -1490,7 +1488,7 @@ class treemanifestctx(object):
         #self.linkrev = revlog.linkrev(rev)
 
     def _revlog(self):
-        return self._repo.manifestlog._revlog.dirlog(self._dir)
+        return self._manifestlog._revlog.dirlog(self._dir)
 
     def read(self):
         if self._data is None:
@@ -1504,8 +1502,7 @@ class treemanifestctx(object):
                 def readsubtree(dir, subm):
                     # Set verify to False since we need to be able to create
                     # subtrees for trees that don't exist on disk.
-                    return self._repo.manifestlog.get(dir, subm,
-                                                      verify=False).read()
+                    return self._manifestlog.get(dir, subm, verify=False).read()
                 m.read(gettext, readsubtree)
                 m.setnode(self._node)
                 self._data = m
@@ -1521,10 +1518,10 @@ class treemanifestctx(object):
         return self._node
 
     def new(self, dir=''):
-        return memtreemanifestctx(self._repo, dir=dir)
+        return memtreemanifestctx(self._manifestlog, dir=dir)
 
     def copy(self):
-        memmf = memtreemanifestctx(self._repo, dir=self._dir)
+        memmf = memtreemanifestctx(self._manifestlog, dir=self._dir)
         memmf._treemanifest = self.read().copy()
         return memmf
 
@@ -1551,7 +1548,7 @@ class treemanifestctx(object):
         else:
             # Need to perform a slow delta
             r0 = revlog.deltaparent(revlog.rev(self._node))
-            m0 = self._repo.manifestlog.get(self._dir, revlog.node(r0)).read()
+            m0 = self._manifestlog.get(self._dir, revlog.node(r0)).read()
             m1 = self.read()
             md = treemanifest(dir=self._dir)
             for f, ((n0, fl0), (n1, fl1)) in m0.diff(m1).iteritems():